Inorganic waste is a growing problem for today's technological society. The inorganic waste generated by a large segment of our industrial sector is an increasing burden on these companies as well as the whole country in general. Considerable researches in the fields of public health safety and environmental protection have raised the level of concern relative to the impact of these inorganic materials on our society. This has lead to the definition of this waste being expanded in its coverage of materials that must be handled in a controlled manner. The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) is responsible for undertaking research and developing recommended health and safety standards. They are joined together with Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) whose jurisdiction includes promulgation and enforcement activities. NIOSH publishes a Pocket Guide to Chemical Hazards which list several hundred substances requiring special handling. An examination of the list shows that approximately 40% of the substances on the list are inorganic vice organic.
Mining processes have produced considerable waste that is stored at the mining sites. The chemical processes that are used to extract minerals from the mining ore have contaminated these sites. Typical of these contaminations are the cyanide used in gold and silver recovery processes. The cyanide contaminates the mining waste and can leach out of the waste and get into water tables expanding the contaminated areas.
The cost of disposing of inorganic waste in the U.S. is a multi-billion dollar per year industry. The capital cost of the equipment required is in the hundreds of millions of dollars. All businesses, industrial companies, and institutions that generate and handle this category of waste must provide safe effective and inexpensive disposal of the waste. In recent years there has been increasing concern over the disposal of inorganic waste. The number of materials that need to be controlled has continued to increase. Furthermore, the handling, transporting, and management of the disposal process have continued to increase in cost. The liability for the consequences of the disposal of these materials is a major concern for those involved in the use of these materials. The liability of the users does not end with the transfer of control of these materials to disposal companies for future problems they may cause.
The concern over the control and safety standards for the chemical industry has lead to a whole family of regulatory Federal Acts. The following list of Federal Acts reflects the broad nature of the problem of inorganic waste:                TSCA (Toxic Substances and Control Act) regulates industrial chemicals.        FIFRA (Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act) requires EPA registration for all pesticides sold in the U.S.        FFDCA (Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act) regulates the establishment of pesticide tolerances.        EPCRA (Emergence Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act) requires local emergence planning for responses to industrial chemical or pesticide accidents and mandates a national inventory of toxic chemical releases.        CAA (Clean Air Act) establishes criteria and standards for regulating toxic air pollutants.        CWA (Clean Water Act) establishes criteria and standards for pollutants in surface water bodies.        SDWA (Safe Drinking Water Act) establishes enforceable Maximum Contaminant Levels (MCLs) for pesticides and Health Advisories.        RCRA (Resources Conservation and Recovery Act) requires appropriate handling and disposal of hazardous waste.        CERCLA (Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act) covers incidents with hazardous materials and mandates the EPA Superfund program to clean up the highest priority sites contaminated by chemicals.        HMTA (Hazardous Materials Transportation Act) ensures the safe and environmentally sound transportation of hazardous materials by all modes of transportation.        FHSA (Federal Hazardous Substances Act), CPSA (Consumer Product Safety Act), and PPPA (Poison Prevention Packaging Act) regulates the safety of consumer products including chemical safety.        OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Act) regulates toxic chemicals related to occupational safety.        NIOSH (National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health) prepares the NIOSH Pocket Guide to Chemical Hazards as a result of their responsibility for undertaking research and developing recommended health and safety standards.        
The dominant methodologies used today generally can be categorized as thermal decomposition, long-term storage, or landfills methods.
The most frequently used thermal destruction techniques are various forms of incineration. All of these techniques have the potential to produce volatile compounds that have serious health and environmental consequences. The MEO process used in this patent does not create these conditions.
In the case of long-term storage, this method is viewed as delaying the solving of the problem and in fact actually increases the degree of the problem in the future. The current position argued by EPA is to move in the direction of avoiding the use of the problem waste by using alternatives solutions in lieu of containment. The dumping in landfills has considerable risk for the users of these materials. Therefore, the user community has an immediate need to develop and incorporate improved methods for the handling of all types and form of inorganic wastes. The methodology of this patent provides for the potential use of inorganic compounds and their immediate oxidation using mediated electrochemical oxidation (MEO) thus avoiding waste-handling problems associated with transportation, offsite destruction, or long-term storage.